Iran Hostage Crisis

Stringer

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I just wrote a paper in one of my classes about the Iran hostage crisis in 1979. I'm actually surprised how little I knew about it before reading all about it in a book. It seems so unreal that it happened and lasted 444 days... Walter Cronkite with his daily reminder of how many days it had been since it started... I felt especially bad for Jimmy Carter. He got criticized for being a poor leader (which he kinda was) but based on what I read, it would seem to be a near impossible situation to navigate for any president. What a crazy time in America, and that's not even discussing all the domestic issues then.

I want to hear what LPSGers who were around in '79 have to say about the whole thing - what you recall, how you felt as it went on, or whatever you want to share. If something like this went down today, I can't even imagine what it would be like with the way media has evolved. I would think something like the Boston bombing coverage every day for more than a year.
 

Reg

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I was 29 and it had very demoralizing effect on Americans. The aftermath of the Vietnam war was still being felt and then our embassy gets taken over, the staff taken prisoners. The failed rescue attempt just making us look all that more incompetent. President Carter was an ineffective leader that was elected only because Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon, which finally allowed the nation to go forward and not be focused on the fiasco that watergate was.
 

dude_007

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I was 10 but can tell you that even at a young age and without social media everyone knew about it.
I remember "kick the ayatolla in the assahola" was a phrase going around.
 

nudeyorker

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I remember recalling my memories of the 70's in another thread and oddly I did not remember it vividly enough to add to my recollections at the time http://www.lpsg.com/204183-describe-the-decades-you-grew.html#post3013466 I was leading an incredibly busy life durning the Iran Hostage Crisis and thought about it every day watching the evening news and reading news paper coverage; we were not bombarded then to the degree we are now with news and issues because there was no internet or cell phones (or even computers).

I remember feeling such a sense of relief when it was over and hoping that somehow the world could start sorting their problems in a more civilized manner; which sadly did not happen.
 

Boobalaa

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When discussing history, I prefer to frame it in the context of what led up to the event , what was going on around the area where it happened, and how it led to what is happening now..
This crisis in 1979 was proximate to the fact that the Shah of Iran had left the country to receive medical treatment in the USA and the Ayatollah took his place.The (Shia) Islamic Revolution had begun. The Ultimate reason for the crisis in 1979 was caused by the CIA organized coup, "Operation Boot", of Iran's only democratically elected leader in August 1953 (1 year before I was born) of Mohammad Mosaddegh. The 1979 crisis was the first recent example of "Blowback".
The 1970's also saw The Yom Kipper War between Israel, Eygpt and Syria in 1973.. Which in turn promptly ushered in the first OPEC Oil Embargo against the USA...
Here in the USA, the burgeoning Fundamentalists Religious Right, which had been forming since "the other 60's", when Barry Goldwater lost to Lyndon Johnson in 1964, The 1970's events just made it easier for them.. "Campus Crusade for Christ" , which also went by many other titles; at my high school, it was, "Campus Life", organized dances and BBQ's with bands and dancing; and had weekly programs on the local AM radio rock~n~roll station.
The mainstream American attitude against Arabs was already negative by the time the 1979 crisis began
 
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ronin001

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All I can say is that the truth around those events probably were not made public knowledge. There were the 70s, the world had an energy crisis going, oil and gas shortages were present in everyday American lives.

Carter looses by a land slide, Ron R becomes the new president. Bingo, The hostages get released, oil starts to flow like water again.